The Hanwha Eagles brought out the word ‘experiment’ with a negative nuance while explaining the reason for the dismissal of former manager Carlos Subero.
An official from Hanwha explained on the 11th, “Director Subero continued to play experimental baseball, so we discussed replacements internally.”
It also means that the club expects results, not experiments, for coach Choi Won-ho, the former Futures (2nd team) team commander who leads the Hanwha 1st team from the 12th.
Former coach Subero, who signed a three-year contract with Hanwha in November 2020, spent the first season of 2021 safely under the protection of’rebuilding’.
Even with the lowest score (49 wins, 83 losses, 12 draws, 0.371 win rate), former coach Subero’s position was not shaken.
However, in 2022, when he finished in 10th place again with a more disastrous record (46 wins, 96 losses, 2 draws, 0.324 win rate), disappointment in former coach Subero began to grow.
Ahead of the 2023 season, Hanwha hired Chae Eun-seong for up to 9 billion won in 6 years and put strength into the other line.
Pitcher Lee Tae-yang and infielder Oh Seon-jin, who were sent out as traders, were also recruited from the free agent (FA) market to reinforce their strength.
It was the will to end the rebuilding and play ‘winning baseball’.
However, Birch Smith, an ambitiously recruited ‘first starting agent’, left the team after only one game due to injury, and Brian O’Grady, a foreign hitter, fell into a terrible slump. ) and stayed in ninth place.
Former coach Subero who said goodbye to Hanwha
[Yonhap News data photo]
In the end, Hanwha sacked former coach Subero.
Instead of appointing an acting coach, he made the unconventional choice of appointing Futures coach Choi Won-ho as the first-team coach.
In fact, coach Choi Won-ho has been consistently mentioned as a candidate for the command tower to succeed former coach Subero.
In November of last year, Hanwha signed a ‘3-year contract renewal’ with Choi Won-ho, then coach of the Futures. It is unusual for a professional baseball team to sign a multi-year contract with a second-team manager.
Director Choi Won-ho directed another unusual scene in which he signed a three-year contract as a first-team coach six months after signing a three-year contract as Futures coach.
Coincidentally, Hanwha general manager Son Hyuk and director Choi Won-ho are friends of the same age and cousins.
Han Hee-won, the wife of general manager Sohn Hyuk and an active player on the LPGA tour, is a cousin of director Choi Won-ho’s wife, Han Hee-jin. Han Hee-jin is also a former national representative and a golfer who played in the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA).
General manager Sohn and coach Choi are in charge of the front and on-site, so they have to solve many homework that Hanwha is facing.
Choi Won-ho, the new manager of Hanwha
[Yonhap News photo]
Coach Wonho Choi received high praise from Hanwha for his ‘player development’.
However, Choi now has to answer with ‘result’.
Since Hanwha said that the reason for breaking up with former manager Subero was ‘experimental baseball’, ‘winning baseball’ is inevitable for manager Choi Won-ho to be the criterion for success or failure.
On June 7, 2020, three years ago, coach Won-ho Choi stepped down from former coach Yong-deok Han due to poor performance, and from June 8 he took over as acting manager and directed 114 games.
At the time, Hanwha allowed acting coach Choi Won-ho to ‘experiment’.
Coach Choi Won-ho showed a whopping 113 lineups in 114 games at the time. That means he only wore the same lineup twice.
In 114 games played by coach Choi Won-ho as acting manager, Hanwha only recorded 39 wins, 72 losses and 3 draws (0.351 win rate), but no voices criticizing the acting manager were heard from within.
Big changes are expected in the 2023 season, which will be played as a formal first-team coach.
It is also noteworthy that the ‘fixed lineup’ is discussed at the same time in the interview between the club officials and new manager Choi Won-ho.안전놀이터
Hanwha has replaced the manager with 113 games left this season.
Head coach Choi Won-ho will lead the Hanwha 1st team from the visiting match against SSG Landers held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 12th.
Director Choi Won-ho, with a different identity from three years ago, with a different goal,